Thursday, 30 October 2014

We have arrived! New York. Wow. Who'd have thought it? The image above is a view from our temporary housing off Times Square. Well, it's been a whirlwind since we arrived a week ago today; running around Manhattan and Brooklyn looking at apartments; getting new phone numbers, bank accounts, utilities hooked up, furniture essentials, etc. All takes a while and is a little painful at times, but we're getting there.

After a pretty extensive search we finally found a beautiful house in Brooklyn, in an area called Clinton Hill. Seems to be in the middle of a lot of nice areas, a 10 minute walk to Fort Greene Park, which we visited last Saturday after a second viewing of the house and which was jam-packed with Halloween goers of both the little kiddie and dog variety. Very sweet. Also just around the corner from a flea market! Wonderful. We have a nice space, roof terrace and garden for Oscar, so I'm thrilled. We collect the keys on the 1st of November, then just have to see how long our stuff takes to clear customs before it can be delivered. fingers and toes it's soon! We'd love to be in by Nov 6 (Oscar's first Birthday), but that might be pushing it a bit.

So far the city has been fantastic. Not overwhelming as I feared it might be. Though it helps knowing in a little bit we'll be in a quieter neighbourhood without sirens blaring every other minute.
Between all our running about we've taken a trip to the High Line, Chelsea Market, Central Park, and Soho; where Edu spied Meg Ryan entering Dean and Deluca as we were exiting. First celeb sighting! I never would have noticed, never do.

Not sure what the plan is for today, I think we're having a down day to rest a bit. And tomorrow is Halloween! Have to get Oscar sorted! We have an outfit... just need to get a few other bits. It's 7am here (couldn't sleep), the others will be up soon, so might be time for a quiet coffee before the day gets going.

Friday, 17 October 2014

This is IT! Radio silence has been due to the massive task of sorting and packing all our stuff up in preparation for The Big Move. I only finished work a week ago, and it's been pretty hectic unravelling a life here in Amsterdam. The last few weeks have been a constant rotating chore list; unsubscribe, de-register, re-direct, sort, purge, recycle, give away, clean, pack, and trash. Though I have quite enjoyed the big purge. Nice to de-clutter a bit. Now the movers are packing as I type. They've been just lovely and have told us some fantastic stories of the houses they've seen. Quite an eye opener. I'm still in denial that we're actually leaving this city and moving. It's just too hard to believe. The thrill of buying a one-way ticket to NYC and starting a new life there is only just starting to seep in as the stress and brain-space needed for wrapping up things here slowly winds down. Well, best get back to it...wish me luck!